Kano MFBs commence disbursement of soft loan to 15,000 SMEs

Microfinance banks (MFBs) in Kano participating in the disbursement of the N2 billion micro credits sourced by the state government from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for SMEs have commenced delivery of the loan to beneficiaries.
Over 15,000 of micro, small and medium enterprises formed into cooperative groups across the 44 local government areas of the state, approved by the apex bank are to benefit from the loan.
Salamatu Talatu, chairperson, Women Development Microfinance Bank, confirmed that her bank had taken delivery of the loan and had started disbursement to the cooperative groups participating in the scheme under the bank.
Talatu commended Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje for making the loan possible, which according to her would go a long way to boosting economic activities at the grassroots.
BusinessDay observed that Governor Ganduje inaugurated the loan early last month, and said his administration intended using it to uplift the living standard of the people through entrepreneurial development.

“This occasion organised for the distribution of N2 billion micro-credit to about 20,000 qualified beneficiaries across the 44 local government areas of the state is about laying a solid foundation for building up micro enterprises to small, medium and large enterprises in our effort towards ensuring sustainable economic development in our dear state,” the governor said.
Specifically, he mentioned that in line with the CBN’s policy, the government had ensured that not less than 60 percent of the beneficiaries were made up of women entrepreneurs.
The governor said: “This shall be a great fulfilment of our promise of enhancing the welfare of the good people of Kano State, especially emancipating them from the shackles of poverty and putting them on a path of wealth creation and sustainable economic empowerment.”
Expressing high optimism that the loans would propel economic transformation, the governor maintained that since “the scheme is about channelling the micro-credit through our microfinance banks, it is envisaged that it will not take long before these banks and their beneficiaries grow up from bottom to top in the Nigerian economy and beyond.”
On the viability of the state-owned microfinance banks, he lamented that when he took over the mantle of leadership of the state, 37 were about to be sold at give-away prices, stressing that “the buyers were not even available because of the devastating position of their capital base, corporate governance, management and other parameters of valuing financial institutions”.
He, however, pointed out that the state Microfinance Agency, KASMA has now been transformed, assuring that the capital base of its banks would be strengthened though various equity financing models.
“As the 45 micro-finance banks are set to distribute the two billion naira micro-credit facility to the beneficiaries, I urge their directors and managers to be determined for effective recovery of the amount loaned to their customers, while they work hard to enhance the profitability and liquidity of the Banks”, he asserted.
The governor also tasked them to shield themselves against the vagaries of fraud, irregularities and other unbecoming inequities capable of eroding their capital, goodwill and other fundamentals.
Governor Ganduje expressed the hope that once the reform measures on the microfinance banks are completed, and the micro-credit scheme gains ground, the MSMEs sector will become a vibrant tool in the administration’s total fight against unemployment, hopelessness, poverty, and hunger among the teeming population.







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